Data Shows Pro-Life Isn’t Just a Slogan—It’s a Lifestyle

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Above: Arkansans participate in the 2026 March for Life in Little Rock (Photo Credit: Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office).

On January 18, pro-lifers from across Arkansas gathered for the 48th annual March for Life in Little Rock.

In its press coverage of the march, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette quoted a representative from the Arkansas Abortion Support Network who said, “I would love to see the same number of people and churches come out to stand for the lives of the children we already have here in Arkansas. … I would love to see that same energy directed toward lowering our state’s maternal mortality rate and addressing the infant mortality rates that have been rising since abortion was fully banned in Arkansas.”

The truth is, contrary to what many people claim, pro-lifers — and Christians as a whole — are among those who are most likely to support women and children, and they tend to be more charitable than the general population.

In fact, researchers have written about this topic for many years.

Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, states around the country have ramped up public funding to support women with unplanned pregnancies. Many of these programs are geared toward reducing maternal and infant mortality.

A recent report from our friends at the Charlotte Lozier Institute shows pro-life pregnancy resource centers provided hundreds of millions of dollars in goods and services to families in 2024. Many of these charities offer everything from pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to adoption referrals and parenting classes to maternity clothes, diapers, and baby formula — all typically free of charge.

A 2024 study by the Bipartisan Policy Center found 65% of foster parents attend weekly church services — which the center said was well above the national average of 40%.

Barna Research has also found that practicing Christians are more than twice as likely as the general population to adopt children. Barna writes, “Catholics are three times as likely. And evangelicals are five times as likely to adopt as the average adult.” Barna has also found Christians are more likely to welcome sibling groups, older youth, and children with special needs.

A 2022 survey by LifeWay Research found 44% of Protestant churchgoers say their congregation and its leaders are proactively involved with adoption and foster care.

On a much broader level, Pew Research has found that religious Americans are more likely to support charity and give to the poor, writing:

Among people who pray daily and attend services weekly, 45% also say they volunteered in the past week (including 23% who did so mainly through a church or other religious organization). Just 28% of Americans who are not highly religious say they volunteered in the past seven days. The gap is even bigger when it comes to helping the poor: 65% of the highly religious say they donated money, time or goods to help the poor in the past week, compared with 41% of all other U.S. adults.

Studies show churches, charities, religious colleges and universities, and people of faith as a whole may provide as much as $1.2 trillion worth of value to the American public.

Christians and churches support women with unplanned pregnancies, and they provide families for children in need of adoption and foster care. They always have. That is something to celebrate.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Canada Killed a Record 16,499 People Through Assisted Suicide Last Year

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Canada killed a record 16,499 people through physician-assisted suicide in 2024, according to new data from the government.

The Canadian government released its Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in November. The report shows euthanasia and assisted suicide are on the rise in Canada and now account for roughly one in twenty deaths in the country.

All told, more than 76,000 people have died through Canada’s euthanasia program since the country legalized assisted suicide in 2016.

The numbers reveal a troubling trend that should serve as a warning to Arkansas and other states.

Canada operates two different “tracks” for assisted suicide. Track 1 lets doctors kill patients whose natural death is “reasonably foreseeable” — meaning they are terminally ill. But Track 2 allows euthanasia for people who are not dying at all.

Track 2 deaths increased by 17% in 2024, with 732 people killed even though they were not terminally ill. These victims tended to be younger, more likely to be women, and far more likely to be living with a disability.

The reasons people gave for choosing death are deeply concerning. The report shows that loneliness and isolation were factors in nearly 22% of Track 1 deaths and 45% of Track 2 deaths. That means at least 3,800 people were killed in Canada last year partly because they felt lonely.

Many of these patients needed counseling and support — not a prescription for deadly drugs.

Canada’s definition of who qualifies for assisted suicide is dangerously broad. Patients can be approved for euthanasia based on cancer, organ failure, or neurological conditions. But they can also be killed for diabetes, chronic pain, hearing problems, or even “feelings of loneliness.”

The situation is about to get worse. In 2027, Canada plans to expand assisted suicide to include people suffering solely from mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. One advocacy group is even pushing to make children under 18 eligible for euthanasia.

This is exactly the slippery slope that pro-life advocates have warned about for years.

We have seen similar problems in Oregon, which legalized physician-assisted suicide in 1998. Official state reports show that less than 1% of Oregon patients who received lethal prescriptions last year were referred for psychiatric evaluation. Most patients cited loss of autonomy and dignity as their primary reasons for asking about assisted suicide.

In parts of the U.S. where assisted suicide is legal, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care but offered to cover the cost of suicide drugs instead. This robs patients of compassionate care and pushes them toward death.

And we have heard stories about patients in Europe and Canada being denied care or actively euthanized thanks to bad government policies.

Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

Being pro-life means believing innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death. That’s why Family Council has spent years opposing assisted suicide and euthanasia in Arkansas.

The tragedy unfolding in Canada shows us where this path leads. When society accepts the premise that some lives are not worth living, vulnerable people suffer the consequences. Instead of offering death as a solution, we should focus on providing better palliative care, mental health support, and compassionate assistance to those who are struggling.

Arkansas families, churches, and voters must continue to stand for the sanctity of human life and oppose any efforts to legalize assisted suicide in our state.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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The Power of “One Solitary Life”

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In 1926, Dr. James Allan Francis wrote a short essay titled, “One Solitary Life.”  As we prepare for Christmas, I hope you will join me in pondering this original version of those simple words about the Savior of the World.

One Solitary Life
A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life.
 
He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
 
He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him.
 
He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. Those are the facts of his human life.
 
He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, what kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune [worthless] in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life.

From all of us at Family Council and the Education Alliance, as we enjoy this wonderful time of year, may we take time to reflect on the true reason we celebrate Christmas: The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

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